The Parable Of The Rich Man And Lazarus. Series

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Luke 16: 19-31

This parable of our Lord, found in Luke 16, grows out of the reaction of the Pharisees to his story of the dishonest steward. The point of that was that our Lord emphasized and underscored the link between money and spirituality. He indicated that man must love God and use money, instead of using God and loving money, as these Pharisees were doing, and as many still do today. Because of this teaching they ridiculed him, as we read in Verse 14:

Luke 15 begins with some Pharisees and lawyers mingling into the crowd where Jesus has been teaching. They instantly start criticizing Him over the fact that He is known to spend time with sinners.

Jesus responds by launching into a number of parables:

The parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4–7)

The parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10)

The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32)

The parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–13)

When He gets to the last parable which touches on how we use our money and resources, Luke tells us that the "The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus" (Luke 16:14).

It’s this tense exchange that sets the stage for Jesus' story about Lazarus and the rich man.

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores" (Luke 16:19–21).

Jesus begins by introducing us to two characters: an extremely wealthy man and a beggar named Lazarus. Interpreters have often gotten caught up in the fact that this is the only parable where Jesus names any of the central characters. Because of this, there's a tendency to attach greater significance and meaning to this parable than to others.

It's likely that Jesus named the beggar to make a specific point. First of all, He calls the man Lazarus—the Greek version of the Hebrew name Eleazar—a name which means "God supports" or "God helps." Throughout this beggar's life, he has received no care or support from anyone else. It has only been God who has supported and cared for him.

To the rich man, Lazarus is just another face in the crowd, an invisible poor person that disappears into the background of his comfortable, lavish life. But in the afterlife when all is said and done, this rich man still remains nameless, and it's Lazarus whose name is remembered.

The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire."

But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."

He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment" (Luke 16:22–28).

Now we're introduced to the conflict in this story. But we have to be very careful—it's incredibly easy to get lost in the details. The point of this story isn't necessarily to describe particulars about the afterlife. If it were, we'd have to assume that those in heaven can watch and interact with sufferers in Hades

In a country where the common people were fortunate if they ate meat once in the week and where they toiled for six days of the week, The rich man is a figure of indolent self-indulgence. Lazarus was waiting for the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. In that time there were no knives, forks or napkins. Food was eaten with the hands and, in very wealthy houses, the hands were cleansed by wiping them on hunks of bread, which were then thrown away. That was what Lazarus was waiting for. The rich man's sin: There's never any indication of any abuse or mistreatment aimed at Lazarus. Abraham merely points out that the rich man lived in comfort while Lazarus was in agony and now the roles are reversed. The rich man ignored Lazarus. He wasn't wicked to Lazarus; he was indifferent.